"Her name is Ljesn, Caius," Mirica said.
The children were as like as two peas. Of course Mirica was on the skinny side for a human kid.
At the bonfire twenty feet behind them, Seraphina Suares sat with her contingent of orphans. She saw Blohm and waved. "Come join us, Caius," she called.
"Leesin?" the striker said.
The other child covered her mouth and giggled. "Ljesn," Mirica said severely.
"Hey, cut me some slack," Blohm said, starting to relax. "I wasn't some base camp hero, I was a scout. When I needed to talk to a, a Kalender, I let my helmet do it. Leesn?"
"Ljesn," the Spook child said. She was wearing an orange apron like she'd had at Active Cloak, but this one wasn't scorched by the grenade blast.
"You'll have to practice, Caius," Mirica said. "But that's better."
"Guess I will," agreed Caius Blohm. "Now, how do you figure we're going to bring down something this big? Rockets at the base I guess, but I can't figure how we get it to drop in the right direction if we do that. Maybe . . ."
The three of them stood before the giant tree, contemplating the future.